In this activity, students face an engineering challenge based on real-world applications. They are tasked with developing a tool they can use to measure the amount of rain that falls each day. Students will find out why freshwater is important,...(View More) learn about the water cycle, and the need to have a standard form of calibration for measurement tools. They will learn that keeping track of precipitation is important, and learn a little bit about how NASA's GPM satellite measures precipitation from space. This lesson uses the 5-E instructional model.(View Less)

Learners will construct a valid scientific question that can be answered by data and/or modeling and choose an appropriate mission for their rover that will answer their scientific question. The lesson uses the 5E instructional model and includes:...(View More) TEKS Details (Texas Standards alignment), Essential Question, Science Notebook, Vocabulary Definitions for Students, Vocabulary Definitions for Teachers, four Vocabulary Cards, and supplements on writing a scientific question and possible Mission Choices. This is lesson 5 of the Mars Rover Celebration Unit, a six week long curriculum.(View Less)

By matching maps of snow and ice amounts with maps of net radiation flux for the same time frame, students will use the Live Access Server to explore how the net radiation flux has affected the snow and ice amounts in the Northern Hemisphere, as...(View More) well as how the presence of snow can affect the net radiation flux due to surface reflection. The lesson includes detailed procedures, related links and sample graphs, follow-up questions, extensions, and teacher notes. This lesson is from the MY NASA DATA project, which has created microsets from large scientific data sets, and wrapped them with tools, lesson plans, and supporting documentation so that a teacher, or anyone in the interested public, can use authentic NASA Earth system science data.(View Less)

This is an activity about cause and effect. Learners will calculate the approximate travel time of each solar wind event identified in the previous activity in this set to estimate the time at which the disturbance would have left the Sun. Then,...(View More) they will examine solar images in an attempt to identify the event on the Sun that may have caused the specific solar wind episode. This is Activity 12 of the Space Weather Forecast curriculum.(View Less)

This is an activity about searching online data archives for solar wind events. Learners will find at least three episodes of increased solar wind activity impacting Earth using direct measurements of solar wind velocity and density. Then, they will...(View More) characterize each events by its rise time, the time it takes for the solar wind speed to rise from normal levels to the peak speed of the event, and the percentage increase in solar wind velocity. This is Activity 11 of the Space Weather Forecast curriculum.(View Less)

In this lesson, students collect sea surface temperature (SST) data from the MY NASA DATA Live Access Server (LAS), create time-series line plots, and use the plots to study a major coral bleaching event. Corals feed on algae that thrive in the...(View More) sunlit water surrounding a reef. However, when water temperatures get too warm, the algae food source dies and corals turn a whitish color. Through scientific observation, it has been determined that coral bleaching may occur when SST exceeds 30C or 86F for a week or longer. During late 2005, a major coral bleaching event, selected for study in this lesson, occurred as a result of these conditions in the Caribbean Sea. The lesson provides detailed procedures, related links and sample graphs, follow-up questions and extensions, and teacher notes. This lesson is from the MY NASA DATA project, which has created microsets from large scientific data sets, and wrapped them with tools, lesson plans, and supporting documentation so that a teacher, or anyone in the interested public, can use authentic NASA Earth system science data.(View Less)

In this data activity, students create maps of the snow cover of each continent, and determine the average global snow cover. Step-by-step instructions for use of the MY NASA DATA Live Access Server (LAS) guide students through selecting a data set,...(View More) importing the data into a spreadsheet, creating graphs, and analyzing data plots. The lesson provides detailed procedures, related links and sample graphs, follow-up questions, extensions, and teacher notes. Designed for student use, MY NASA DATA LAS samples micro datasets from large scientific data archives, and provides structured investigations engaging students in exploration of real data to answer real world questions.(View Less)

This lesson addresses the common student misconception that the Earth is closer to the Sun during the summer in the Northern Hemisphere. This lesson encourages students to voice this misconception at the beginning of the lesson and then attempts to...(View More) correct it-first, by exploring the reason for it, and then by presenting an alternate explanation. Materials needed for the demonstration include a small globe and a desk lamp for each group of students, a large ball, and overhead transparency. This resource is from PUMAS - Practical Uses of Math and Science - a collection of brief examples created by scientists and engineers showing how math and science topics taught in K-12 classes have real world applications.(View Less)

In this lab-based activity, students learn how to use scientific instruments used to take hydrological data. Students will rotate among measurement stations for each of the hydrology protocols that will be done by the class. They will practice using...(View More) the field guide with the instrument or kit for that particular measurement, exploring sources of variation and error. The resource includes eight student activity sheets and an authentic assessment, and is part of the Hydrology chapter of the GLOBE Teacher's Guide. The activity is supported by the GLOBE hydrology protocols. GLOBE (Global Learning and Observation to Benefit the Environment) is a worldwide, hands-on, K-12 school-based science education program.(View Less)

This is an activity about polarized light. Learners will use a polarizing filter to build and calibrate a simple polarimeter, use the constructed polarimeter to find sources of polarized light, and measure the angle of polarization of polarized...(View More) light sources and attempt to measure the strength of polarization. This activity is from the Touch the Sun educator guide.(View Less)